Human skin is a complex organ (the largest human organ) which extends over the entire body. As the outermost organ, the skin forms a protective barrier to protect the body from harm. Skin is subject to abuse from both external and internal factors, which can result in skin aging. Skin aging occurs in two ways: (1) chronological aging (i.e., the natural aging process) and (2) through UV rays in sunlight, which accelerate the natural aging process (i.e., photoaging). Chronological aging may result in thinning, loss of elasticity, and/or general degradation of the skin. By contrast, photoaging, which happened in areas of habitual sun exposure, may result in changes such as elastosis, atrophy, wrinkling, vascular changes (i.e., diffuse erythema, ecchymosis, and telangiectasias), pigmentary changes (i.e., lentigines, freckles, and areas of hypo- and hyper-pigmentation), and/or the development of seborrheic keratosis, actinic keratosis, comedones, and cysts.
While the skin is equipped with natural defenses that help to protect it from damage, these defenses can become overwhelmed, which can lead to skin damage.
Skin appearance and elasticity is a wide spread cosmetic concern. In addition, in recent years, skin protection has also become a great health concern.
Antioxidants are commonly used to improve the therapeutic or cosmetic performance of dermatological and cosmetic formulations. However, in order to be effective, antioxidants must remain in their unoxidized form. As a result, maintenance of antioxidant stability in a formulation suitable for topical administration has often proven to be a challenge.
Thus, a need exists in the art for additional topical compositions having improved and/or superior antioxidant activity that are suitable for topical application and/or administration.